The demands for interoperability between differing radio communications equipment employed by the various federal, state and local government agencies responsible for “first response” emergency communications have accelerated rapidly following in recent years. In many instances, existing deployed emergency two-way radio equipment will not interoperate. For example, radio equipment used by a county fire department may not work with the radio equipment used by its police department or with equipment used by federal agencies. In another example, emergency call centers may use communication switching capabilities in a PBX platform, but are incapable of initiating a communications session with emergency response teams that are only reachable via two-way radio communication platforms.
FIG. 1 shows various conventional communication systems and platforms that are independent of each other such that communication sessions cannot be initiated across the various platforms. The conventional communications system of FIG. 1 includes a conventional switched telephone network 110, a conventional VoIP system 120, and a conventional two-way radio system 130. Although, the communications systems depicted in FIG. 1 are simplified for ease of discussion, the limitations of these conventional communications systems are easily illustrated as problems of each are discussed briefly below.
In a typical switched telephone network 110, a public switched telephone network 115 (PSTN) provides a platform for a large number of telephones and cellular phones to communicate with each other. As shown on FIG. 1, a standard telephone 111 may communicate with other standard telephones (not shown) or a cellular phone 113 through a cell phone tower 112 that is part of a cellular wireless system. Typically, a cellular wireless system works in conjunction with the PSTN 115 to provide multiple capabilities for communication sessions via any standard telephone system, such as, for example, the well-known public system in the United States that utilizes 10-digit phone numbers for identification, routing and calling. Alternatively, a private branch exchange (PBX) 116 supporting many telephones 117, such as those used internally for a company, i.e., may be used such that only 4-digit extensions need be dialed within the PBX 116. Conventional switched telephone networks provide a number of capabilities for call switching, call routing, and call handling that are well known in the art and are not discussed in further detail herein.
In a typical VoIP system 120, a first VoIP server 121 and a second VoIP server 122 may communicate via a network 125, such as the Internet, for example, using a communication protocol, such as TCP/IP, for example. Each VoIP server 121 and 122 may, in turn, communicate with respective VoIP-capable telephones 123 and 124. As such, a communication session may be constructed to allow the first VoIP telephone 123 to communicate with the second VoIP telephone entirely over the network 125 without ever utilizing a PSTN, such as the PSTN system 110. Most typically, however, the VoIP servers 121 and 122 are part of a larger communication system (not shown in detail) that includes the capability of interfacing the VoIP system 120 with the PSTN system 110 via a VoIP Gateway 127. Such larger systems, require the use of separate VoIP Gateway 127 and Softswitch systems, the nature of which is well known and, again, is not discussed further herein.
The third system shown in FIG. 1 is a conventional two-way radio system 130. The two-way radio system 130 includes a radio base station 135 that provides radio-wave transmitting and receiving functions for any number of radios within radio-wave range of the radio base station 135, such as handheld radios 131 and 132 and any communication terminals connected directly to the radio base station 135, such as operator console 133. As such, the two-way radio system 130 provides a platform for communicating between radios and operator consoles using transmitted and received radio signals 134. For example, when a communication session is initiated at handheld radio 131 (i.e., a transmit button is depressed on a conventional push-to-talk radio), the radio base station 135 recognizes the initiation and receives signals from the initiating handheld radio 131. Again, two-way radio systems 130 are well known in the art and will not be discussed further herein.
The above-described communication systems have been used by any number of government agencies, polices forces, commercial firms, etc. for internal and external communications. Typically, the specific needs of each entity drive the choice and configuration of communications systems. For example, a police force needs a two-way radio system 130 to facilitate communication between officers on the street. Additionally, the police department typically uses a PSTN at police stations and other executive and clerical facilities. Thus, the police department uses two distinct communication systems for two distinct purposes, both of which are well suited for the type of communications typically required, but not well-suited for direct communication between the two platforms of the two communication systems.
Further, a nearby fire department also typically requires the same capabilities for communication. While the PSTN may be the same system as the police force, it is generally the case that each department has incompatible two-way radio equipment such that the two departments cannot communicate with each other's two-way radio system.
With the advent of coordinated emergency response plans implemented by government agencies and other private security agencies, the need for cross-system communication in an actual emergency becomes a critical requirement. For example, when a fire department responds to a fire in a tall building, the fire department may need to instruct the police department to re-route traffic away from the dangerous vicinity. Direct communication between officers of the police department and fire fighters of the fire department can be crucial in effectively coordinating an emergency response.
Furthermore, the first responder environment requires coordinated on-demand services. For example, the federal government my wish to participate in an emergency response if terrorism is determined to be a factor. Services necessary for cross-departmental communication, such as conferencing between proprietary systems, are typically not available to emergency response radio users. Even when such services are available, they are not automated and require live operator support which again requires additional equipment, dedicated operator support, and the foresight of predicting emergencies. Obviously, without automation, the requirement for on-demand services cannot be met.
Similar problems exist in tactical military environments, where communication equipment employed by the different branches of US armed forces do not interoperate. Furthermore, the mobility and capabilities of current communications equipment could be significantly improved by networking military radios with other communication platforms. Without universal interoperability, many government agencies would be forced, at great cost, to upgrade or replace otherwise serviceable radio equipment to fulfill mandates for supporting homeland security, emergency communications and more mobile and coordinated armed forces.
Conventional systems currently use separate equipment cabinets providing PBX, radio interface, intercom and VoIP Gateway functionality. That is, separate dedicated communication systems provide platforms for any number of communication sessions between mediums that the individual systems are designed for, but provide little, if any communication interoperability between the platforms. At best, a limited interoperability capability may be provided, but user control of system configuration and user initiated access to communication services is lacking. For example, in the prior art, some PBX systems may include a VoIP interface, but will not interface to radio base stations. Other conventional systems of limited capability are offered to supplement conventional PBX and dispatch systems. Such systems perform radio cross-patching, while others convert radio audio to VoIP, and still others adapt dispatch consoles for connecting to dispatch switching systems via VoIP.
Furthermore, the prior art does not provide for interactive communications capability between platforms. This prevents user programmable configuration and dynamic user control of switching and conferencing capabilities between the multiple platforms employed in prior art. Without interactive and dynamic switching capabilities, communications are limited to point to point, call routing and user access to communication services are pre-configured and non-conditional, and user control of conferencing and security features are absent.